There is a parent in my son's association who was an assistant coach for many of his early years. He consistently berated kids while he ran the gate, told kids they weren't nearly as good as his son, weasled himself onto the board, and into evaluator positions to assure his boys made it to the top tiered teams every year - the whole family was cut throat this way, everybody knew it. I am sure there are families like this in every association.
He once drove a PeeWee kid, half his height, and a quarter of his weight, into the boards because the kid embarassed him, beating him wide in a drill. The kid was laying in a heap on the ice, and this Dad simply skated away, looking over his shoulder as if to say, "that'll learn the punk to beat ME wide". The association banned him from coaching minor hockey shortly after that. However, in spring hockey, he would use his employer's sponorship money to buy swag for the spring team, and voila! he was on the bench again, showcasing his future nhler, and belittling anybody that took attention away from his kid.
This is anecdotal, I know, but I agree 100% that spring hockey needs to be regulated in some way. Another problem is that some meat-head kids aren't worried about suspensions for hitting from behind because nothing is enforced.
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